rm999. According to Grace Christ (rhymes with grist), author of Healing Children's Grief: Surviving a Parent's Death from Cancer, (Oxford University Press), 83 percent of 157 children had returned to normal functioning—in their schoolwork, within their family, psychologically and emotionally—a little more than a year after their parent died.

My point was that Ms.Bartz should be recognized for her achievements irregardless of perceived trauma. Incidently, my grandparents died within 6 months of each other when I was 10, but as far as I am concerned, that does not mean that I am more/less likely to achieve....so far, it seems not!

It does puzzle me the undue emphasis upon her age, even within the ballyhooed fountain of youth that apparently is Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs (albeit suffering from ill-health) turns 54 next month, and Google's CEO Eric Schmidt (another Atherton resident) will celebrate those same numbers in April. Bartz' predecessor, Terry Semel, was 58 when he joined Yahoo!. USA Today's article "Does Age Matter When You're a CEO?" noted that the "leadership sweet spot that falls in the 50s and early 60s." (It also points out that Warren Buffett is 78.)When examining the carcasses of Silicon Valley start-ups (of which there are many), would it be worth doing graphing the ages of these upstarts? More relevant is not her age, but the breadth of her experience Other than that peculiar obsession, the article doesn't stray overmuch into pop psychology (except for the "insecurities") and for that I am grateful.

Toughness is great but you have to be careful not to get too rigid.Like stiffening up to take the 101 up the peninsula instead of finding the easier, faster direct connection from Atherton -- Woodside Road to the 280, 19th/Park Presidio to GG Bridge and flowing against commute traffic the whole way. (Plenty of places to stop on this scenic route as well.)The solution at Yahoo is likely to be in flexing to learn a different route. I wish her the best.

....so Carol Bartz lost her mother, resulting in insecurities which made her ambitious? Pleeeeese! I have no wish to appear insensitive, which is why I won't say it was terribly careless of Ms. Bartz to lose her mother in the first place, but my mother died when I was 20 months old, I was raised by my grandparents, had a blissful childhood and do not believe these events, of themselves, has impacted on my life. To define Ms. Bartz on a single incident demeans her qualities and achievements. Stuff happens, we live with it. It seems Ms. Bartz is doing a pretty good job of living with it.